Windy day on the estuary

I awoke at the crack of half 9 to the sound of a gently snoring retriever and a howling gale outside the window, another day in I thought, but after two restorative cups of tea, and waiting for the dog to surface, (he does like his bed) I decided a walk would do us both good.

A short drive from Countess Wear, the area of Exeter I call home, is the Powderham estate, which borders the Exe estuary, with a nice level path behind the sea wall, sadly with a railway (built by Brunel) ploughing straight through it, nice, cheers Isambard, could've put it somewhere else, must,ve been the weight of his enormous hat clouding his thinking.

I pulled up opposite the charming little Church, from the amount of cars beside it, I guess a service was in progress, as there has been for centuries, but soul saving was not for us this Sunday morning, (Max is too good already and I'm beyond religious salvation!) A Weasel, at least I think it was a Weasel, shot across the road into the hedgerow, I've only seen a couple of these secretive little beasties, so I went and had a look, but understandably, he'd gone.

We strolled down to the sea wall, across the railway lines, and walked slowly up toward Turf lock, about a mile up the estuary, a large flock of Geese lifted from the fields in front of me and wheeled out to land on the mudflats, all making as much noise as possible. Typical I thought, nice and close in the fields, soon as I turn up, they leave, a flash of movement at the bottom of the verge caught my eye, and two small birds landed on the fence. My camera was safely in its bag but I had a good look through the bins and on later investigation, found they were Stonechats, or thats the closest I could find.

After that the camera came out to be buffeted by the wind along with me and Max. The Geese on the flats started to take off sporadically and headed back to the fields, they were Brents, and I wondered if they were the same ones I saw last week by the canal, and if the Red Breasted Goose was still with them. I took a few shots as they passed overhead, I'd hate to try and say how many there were, but there were a lot.

As they landed there was squabbling as one Goose entered the feeding area of another, only to be chased off by the owner of that particular bit of ground at that particular time, head low and honking. Passing the binoculars over the area a familiar colour became apparent, it was the Red Breasted Goose, he has been with these Brents for a while now, they all seem to get on fine.

A little further along I spent some time dodging cyclists, who are unaware, apparently, of the meaning of the word "FOOTpath", and watching a Redshank marching up and down the tideline, whilst regretting the second cup of tea.

I noticed Max was getting a little slow and we turned back toward the car, he is 10 now, and arthritic, but still enjoys his walks, and I owe a lot of the things I've seen to him, if it was'nt for him, I probably would not have been out and about quite as much as I have been over the years, he's upside down on the sofa as I write this, I am on the floor, I know my place, still hes the best friend I have ever had, and he deserves a little comfort.

On the way back to the car the sun briefly broke through, and some Shelduck shone out on the flats.

Max had perked up a bit and beat me to the car, we drove along the road to Starcross, that Brunel built, busy little dude, was'nt he, surprising he had time, what with all the shopping for huge hats, and building stuff on the countryside. On the adjacent land belonging to the estate, opposite the yacht club, hundreds of Deer grazed in the pale sun, I have'nt seen that many in one place down here before, it was a good end to the walk.

I put a short clip up of the Brents in the video section, its wobbly 'cos its windy, and I forgot the tripod!